The Broadside Sequence

[Darksider]

In the opening space battle of ROTS, we see General Grevious' command ship go broadside to broadside with a Republic Venator.

Those shots that enter the gunports and destroy weapons don't even look like they came from the low-MT point defense cannons.

Is there any explanation for this in the ROTS ICS?

[Shroom Man 777]

They came through the shields, and thus could've been partially weakened.

The obscene levels of SW firepower were not explosive force, but thermal or penetrative. So if a turbolaser hits the ground, it'd drill a bigass hole and not make a mushroom cloud.

[Companion Cube]

In the opening space battle of ROTS, we see General Grevious' command ship go broadside to broadside with a Republic Venator.

Those shots that enter the gunports and destroy weapons don't even look like they came from the low-MT point defense cannons.

Is there any explanation for this in the ROTS ICS?

Those are, AFAIK, proton torpedo launchers of some kind. The ROTS: ICS lists the Invisible Hand as having over 100 of them, if I remember correctly.

EDIT: Whoops, misunderstood the question completely.

[Vympel]

I'll just cut and paste what I said on SB.com. It may appear a bit out of context, since it's a reply, but anyway:

The first gun station, the Republic one, was blown up by an explosion by an incoming Separatist round (not a turbolaser), which first broke through the hull wherever those guns were, more than likely the trench. Why is this a big deal again? I can't figure it out. What, are we now assuming that the hull in the trench is some sort of uber thick armor, and furthermore, that the armor should be just as resistant to a physical impactor once the shields are down (as they obviously were, I came back from second viewing tonight and noted a clear shield impact on a TF battleship in one scene, with a glow vaguely resembling Star Trek- not to mention we've seen bolt/shield interactions in other films) as it is to turbolasers?

The second gun station, the Separatist one, was struck after the bolt hit the shield protecting it, which is clearly visible as deactivating after the attack as well as during the shot of the line of guns firing. Or are you going to argue now that those blindingly obvious shields are for cosmetic purposes?

And while the more stupid of you try and pooh pooh this obvious explanation, perhaps you'd like to explain why an ISD can vaporize asteroids with its invisible light trench guns in TESB, and what the effect would've been if it had struck inside a ship. Oh yeah, you were too busy trying to throw out other evidence to stick with your preferred bullshit. Not to mention the RotS novelization quote about turoblaser bolts capable of vaporizing small towns (megaton - gigaton depending on definition) and turbolasers blooming into supernovas that swallowed unshielded ships whole (in contrast to prismatic sprays against shielded ships).

But by all means, pretend that your preferred interpreation of one scene above and beyond all other canon evidence somehow makes sense.

[Darksider]

They came through the shields, and thus could've been partially weakened.

The obscene levels of SW firepower were not explosive force, but thermal or penetrative. So if a turbolaser hits the ground, it'd drill a bigass hole and not make a mushroom cloud.

That's true.

I don't know why people expect an Energy weapon to make a giant-ass mushroom cloud when all they do is transfer the energy directly into the target rather than explode outward.

Wait. Why am I stupid?

::::Reads out of context stuff::::

Oh.....

[Shroom Man 777]

Another thing to factor that Star Wars has relatively advanced technology. "Smart" turbolasers. Perhaps, to not waste energy and to avoid overkill, they'd automatically dial down their yield to more appropriate levels when the shields have been killed.

[Col. Crackpot]

Vympel, flame much?

blast yields aside, the scene in question was fantastic. It evokes old sailing ship movies of the past with ships of the line blasting each other to bits with devastaing broadsides at spitting distances as men struggle to keep the cannons firing.
gahh!!

sorry, i'm still giddy from watching it last night.